現代奧林匹克之父，法國顧拜旦男爵道出了奧林匹克應有的精神。
- Baron Pierre de Coubertin
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well."
翻譯成人話，就是重在參與，最流行用語打醬油。
顧拜旦是不是太天真？。
在新概念英語第四冊第6課有一篇叫the sporting spirit 的文章如下。如果懶得看原文就跟著我舞蹈。
我總是感到神奇，當人們說體育比賽要友誼第一比賽第二。比賽就是開party不是上戰場。我覺得沒有比這更扯淡的了。如果對此還不理解作者提到1936年奧林匹克運動會，國際間的體育比賽如何引發無節製的仇恨。我沒去查1936年奧運會發生了什麽，不論發生什麽都不會覺得奇怪。
任何競技體育項目都會引起競爭，隻要競爭就會激發人性的陰暗麵。你若不竭盡全力得冠軍，就是打醬油，這比賽就毫無意義。從小到學校班級，校隊，鄉村俱樂部，大到國際間奧林匹克，參加比賽的雙方都是為了自己或己方的榮譽而戰，比賽過程並不重要，輸贏才是關鍵。體育比賽實質上就是模擬戰爭，warfare. 不僅是運動員，場下的觀眾也一樣不存在顧拜旦所說的奧利匹克精神。場下的戰鬥有時不比場上遜色。有誰能數得過來有多少次因裁判判決引起某國全國暴怒？
其實坦白承認，喜愛奧運會，就是喜歡刺激，喜歡看戰鬥，比速度比力量比獎牌數，金牌數量不夠其它牌子湊，目的就是壓過對手，競爭中戰勝對手是首要之首要並沒有什麽錯。
還有不關注比賽隻關心八卦也沒錯，最終能戰勝就是老大，管它什麽手段。
這是我所理解的真正的奧林匹克精神，誰愛打醬油誰打去，隻要我的運動員，隊，國家，贏就行。
是老顧高估了人性還是虛偽？
GEORGE ORWELL The sporting spirit
I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.
Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level, sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe -- at any rate for short periods -- that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.
GEORGE ORWELL The sporting spirit
